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22 June 2014

Keep On Working.


In the first Austrian Grand Prix since 2003, both Lotus F1 Team cars saw the chequered flag with Pastor Maldonado finishing just shy of the points in twelfth position and Romain Grosjean in fourteenth. Hot conditions and the undulating nature of the Spielberg circuit meant a number of cars experienced issues, with both E22s suffering from braking concerns.

Pastor had a relatively positive weekend in Austria and remains optimistic about the weekend and subsequent forthcoming race, "For me in the car it was actually quite a good weekend. We finished the race which is positive and we made the most of the package we had today. We are losing a lot of time in the slow speed corners and we need to keep improving in this area to be more like our good high speed corner performance. Unfortunately we had some brake issues from very early on in the race so I wasn’t able to fight others around me, even though it was nice to be running in the top ten during the course of the race. After that, it was a case of saving fuel and brakes to get to the chequered flag. I think Silverstone will suit us much better.”

Despite starting from the pitlane due to a gearbox change, Romain did well to rise up through the field at the unforgiving circuit. He spoke frankly of today's race in Austria and explained the main challenges faced out there; “Today hasn’t been easy. We had various issues during the race to add to our struggle for overall performance so it was quite a challenge! We stopped very early for soft tyres but unfortunately we soon experienced graining from these which made it difficult for the rest of the race. Looking at the past, the team has always managed to make a great comeback. It might be a bit of a big build-up this time, but I know that we will work hard and do all we can to fight back to where we want to be.”

Deputy Team Principal Federico summarised the day; "There are positives from today. Both cars made the chequered flag in what’s been a difficult race for many teams. Pastor and Romain really got their heads down and made the most of the cars under them and should be applauded for today’s drives. It is obvious where we are lacking against our rivals so our focus going forwards is clear.”